Food Delivery

We spotted a little while ago that Cold Storage had a Christmas Food Catalogue.  In the UK i'd get stuff from Marks & Spencer, but although they have shops here, they don't offer any sort of Christmas food service.  So we started looking through the CS catalogues and picked a deal that looked good to us.

We were able to pick a package of three meats that we wanted, but you could pick turkey or a ham or beef on its own.  It seemed to us a good idea to pick one of each and put things we didn't want in the freezer.

We could pick a time we wanted the delivery for free and then also pay then too.  With our package we got a cool bag for free too, so with those 'savings' we picked out a yule log too. 

 Let me tell you...it was like Christmas unwrapping that giant chocolate cake, I didn't want to package it all up again.

 Just look at how very cute it is, and I'm surprised it didn't get squished in transit.  It was very good packing. 

 Look at that face, she knows it's going to be a good year when you unwrap a cool box like this. 

A fully cooked turkey that just needs heated up, a fully cooked (not processed) ham and beef with black pepper sauce.

I always over cater...I can't help it.  I'm used to people popping in or having lots of visitors.

It all looks so good, these pictures don't really show how yummy it all looked.  We didn't NEED these things to be cooked, but I think because regular Singaporean kitchens aren't too big it works out really well for the majority of people to have things pre-cooked.  It means that tomorrow we can cut what we like and put it in a shallow dish with lots of gravy and no stress. 

It also means that we can now head out to catch Disneys Frozen.  I am really missing not going to the Pantomime with my family on Christmas Eve this year so Mark is taking me out to a Wintery Disney film to make up for the brave faces I've been putting on.

We should have time to get some pizza first too.  Not quite the full Christmas dinner I would normally have whilst overlooking Union Terrace Gardens, but our new tradition all the same.  We are here.  This is our home and I am so thankful that we've got each other on this adventure.

Daisy says "Merry Christmas to all!"  Whats that Daisy.....?  

"This one is mine....ok?", Ok Daisy, if you say so...

Party Time

This weekend Mark and I were invited round to my Aunt and Uncles to have an early Birthday Tea for my Cousin who celebrates her Birthday in November, by which time we’ll be gone.  We were very excited as there aren’t many more days we’ll have as family events and it also meant that we’d be able to give out some of the presents that we’d got for everyone (and we’d been carting around in the car for weeks). 

When we arrived we knew something was up…..twinkly lights in the living room?  Sparkly decorations?  Christmas in October?

My cousin with Daisy

My wonderful family made it Christmas for us as we’d miss out this year.  We snapped crackers, ate too much, unwrapped presents, wore paper crowns, played charades and watched Strictly (this is non-negotiable).

This made me so sad as we are now on the last countdown of seeing people.  When we leave for Singapore we probably won’t see everyone until NEXT CHRISTMAS.  So, for now, I am trying to be positive and enjoy each of these events.

Christmas Shopping

The other day Holly, one of my friends, suggested we take a trip to Paula of Farnell, a cute little shop in Angus, which opens periodically selling Christmas decorations from mid autumn to mid winter.  Its the sort of shop you happen upon and then spend a good few hours at.  It has lots of things I love in it....twinkly lights, garlands and lanterns.

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Its in an old school house and is set within a picture perfect location just off a country road.  All the way down to it we were singing Christmas carols at the top of our voices while I half heartily looked at the map for directions.  We had taken the scenic route south which really meant much more opportunities to get lost!

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The whole shop is set up like a window display and you sort of just reach in and put what you like into your basket.  Seeing as we are temporary accommodation I was unable to really take anything much, my friend however, took a great many things...

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Everywhere you look is beautifully decorated, so it was a welcome break from shopping when our names were called to go through to the cafe and order some nice food.  One of the good things about this small shop is that you have to write your name down as you enter if you want to take a break at the cafe.  Because they then call your name when a table frees up you don't have to waste time hovering around.

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Its so warm and cosy and the perfect way to spend a late autumn day.  I am trying to squeeze as many Christmas things into my days as possible seeing as it'll all be so different so very soon.  On our way home we stopped in Montrose as Holly saw a statue of a dog.  She literally shouted "A DOG STATUE!", so we turned the car around to investigate.  The statue was actually for a dog called Bamse who lived during WW2 at was very kind and courageous.  You can read more about him here.

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Because we were so impressed by him we decided to visit his grave and once we finally found it we needed to find some pretty stones to put on it as everyone else had done the same.  Holly and I looked around on the beach for some stones and Holly found a really pretty heart shaped one, and I found one that was a nice colour.  We left it for Bamse along with some beach flowers and headed North again.  When we got back to our apartment we thought it would be funny to trick Mark and tell him I had bought all the things that Holly did.  We're not very good at telling fibs, he took one look at me and I burst out laughing.  At least what I did buy will easily fit in our luggage.

Me with the one thing I bought and Holly with her 'Mouse in a Box'